London Bundle: The Embankment/Strand Strip (PART II)

All right, so eat that last chip and guzzle down the remnants of that pint at Ye Olde Cheschire Cheese, because we’re about to pick up where we left off yesterday. As you might recall, we were exploring the St. Paul’s vicinity and just wandered down to Fleet Street–perhaps the fact that I’m making this bundle a 2-parter discourages you that it’s too much to pack into a day, but in all honesty, a lot of these sites that I’m mentioning are of the walk-by/photo-op variety, not really attractions that you need to spend a lot of time within (unless you choose to, of course). At any rate, if you’re hell-bent on getting more bang for the, uh, pound out of this day, I’m going to let you choose your own adventure:

Option 1: Dip down south until you hit the river and stroll along the Thames walk or inside the enchanting Victoria Embankment gardens. Near the Embankment Tube station, you can cut northwest into Trafalgar Square and further northwest from there to shove around in the Times Square-esque hubbub of Piccadilly Circus, then wrap your way back Eestward into the theatre district, shops, and restaurants of Leicester Square (where many of the major films premier!) and Covent Garden—Covent Garden is home to the Market of same name as well as the Royal Opera House, where the BAFTA Awards for film are held every year (the equivalent of the Oscars).

Option 2: Continue walking westward down Fleet Street until it becomes the Strand. On the way there, you will pass the super-narrow Ye Olde Cock Tavern on your left (permit yourself to giggle as you do so) and the Royal Courts of Justice on your right, which you can tour around on the inside or duck behind to stroll through the delightful, somewhat hidden garden of New Square, below Lincoln’s Inn Field and off of Chancery Lane. Across the street from the Royal Courts on the Strand is the original Twinings tea shop dating back to 1706, and, continuing west on the Strand, you will have an abundance of fine shopping opportunities until you eventually head northwest into Covent Garden and (in the reverse direction of above) head west into Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

At this point, you’ll likely be exhausted, so take a seat inside a vintage London theatre and see why it’s such a big attraction—you can book your tickets in advance online or step into any box office or discount ticket booth in Leicester Square for last-minute day-of deals.